


The Rescuers

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Pet Sounds [1]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 23:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Don’t show your fear.  Dogs can smell fear.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rescuers

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this crazy idea in my head for a long time, the BAU as house pets. I never thought it would come to life but during a crazy day at work Penelope Garcia came to tell me a story.

Lightning flashed and Penelope screamed. She thought her eyes might have been playing tricks on her but she screamed anyway. Derek looked up from his nap under the kitchen table.

“What's wrong, baby girl?” he asked.

“There's a cat out there.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t your own reflection?”

“I know what I look like Derek. I don’t believe that old story anymore about the cat in the mirror verse.”

She said it in that tone that meant at the very least he better investigate. It was pouring outside though and Derek wasn’t in the mood to just venture out there on someone’s word. It didn’t matter that that someone was his baby girl. So he sighed, got up from his nap, and came to stand by the side door with her. More lightning was bound to come.

If there was someone out there he would see it too. It didn’t take long for it to happen and sure enough, Derek saw the black cat. She looked like a drowned rat out there, fur soaked through. Penelope gasped again and the Rottweiler looked at her.

“Now tell me that’s my reflection, Derek Morgan.” She said.

“OK, I see the cat Garcia.”

“Well go and get her; it’s horrible out there.” she used her paw to point to the doggie door.

“We can't just go and get her without the human’s permission.”

“How are we supposed to ask them? Go, go, go; I find if you do the really cute face it’s so much easier to apologize than ask. Don’t worry about the humans.”

“One of these days mama, you're gonna be homeless. I’ll probably be too following you around like I do. I must be going soft in my old age.”

“You are not old. And we’re loved here so we’ll always have a home.” Penelope said in her best matter of fact tone. It was pretty good considering. “Please just go and get her.”

“How do you know it’s a her?” he asked, already walking to the door.

What was he thinking? This cat had him in the palm of her hand since the humans brought her in as a kitten. A chubby, adorable gray and black tabby with white tips on her front feet and socks on her back, Penelope owned the household the moment she walked into it. And while the humans weren't sure if her ebullient presence would be a hindrance to their relaxed Rottweiler, the two were thick as thieves immediately. Derek realized this was mostly because he did what Penelope said. Doing what Penelope said made life much, much easier.

“I'm a her so I know another her when I see it. It’s her eyes. She’s scared and that makes me sad. There are so many homeless cats…I want to take them all in.”

“Well aren’t you the Mia Farrow of the feline world?” Morgan did a lousy job hiding his sarcasm. He was comforted that Penelope wouldn’t notice. When she was on a mission she rarely noticed anything else.

“Huh?” she asked.

“Nevermind; I'm going to get her.”

“Thanks.” She got up on her hind legs and licked his face.

“You're welcome baby girl.”

Walking out of the doggie door, Morgan shivered against the wind. It wasn’t quite a cold night, it was mid spring, but it was windy. He walked around to the side of the house. The night was dark but he knew the route with his eyes closed. He’d lived in the house with the humans for four years. Only Gideon, the old Russian Blue cat, had been there longer. When the black cat saw him, she ducked under the shrubbery.

“Hey cat, I can see you.”

“Leave me alone. Please…I don’t want any trouble. I’ll just be on my way.”

“I'm not trouble.” Morgan said.

“You're a Rottweiler so I beg to differ.”

“You probably shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”

“Says the ginormous dog before he has me for dinner.”

“I've already had dinner.” He replied. “You look a little hungry though.”

“I'm fine.” She hoped he didn’t hear her stomach growling. She didn’t know how long it had been since she had a real meal. The local birds were onto her; dinner was getting tougher to catch.

“I can hear your stomach.”

“You liar!”

“Look, there's a cat that lives in that house, two as a matter of fact. If I go back in there without you, I will never hear the end of it. Its warm in there, there's food, and the humans are good people.”

“Why would they want me?” she slowly came from under the shrubs. Thunder crashed, lightning streaked, and she nearly jumped a mile. “Dammit, I really hate thunderstorms.”

“Me too, so can we go inside please. I'm gonna have to take your scruff in my mouth and carry you. That’s the easiest way.”

“No damn way.” she shook her head. “Do I look like I was born yesterday dog? I knew this was a trick.”

“My name is Morgan, not dog, and it’s not a trick. Look over there; I'm sure the cat is sitting there watching the whole thing go down. Her name is Penelope.”

The black cat looked over. She’d seen the sweet faced tabby a few times when she passed the house. It looked like she lived a good life. Who would've thought that this Penelope would give a hang about what happened to some street cat? 

In her lifetime, Emily found that many cats were cruel. It wasn’t as if she’d always been the sweetest in the world but a girl had to eat…she had to survive. Penelope waved. It was tentative but the sweet look never left her face.

“If you eat me, I will haunt you. I’ll haunt you every day and night for the rest of your life.” She said.

“So noted. I don’t need anymore crazy cats in my life so believe me when I tell you I'm not going to bring that on myself.” Morgan said. “What's your name?”

“Emily.” 

“OK Emily, I'm coming over there now. I'm gonna pick you up and we’re going in the house.”

“OK.”

Emily cringed, hoping this wasn’t the end. Dogs were not to be trusted and this wasn’t just any dog; this was a Rottweiler. They had something like forty pounds of pressure on their chomp. The same chomp was about to pick her up. If this was the end she hoped she at least went to cat heaven.

Yeah, she’d done some bad shit but she wasn’t an all around bad cat. She seriously hoped there wasn’t just blackness and a hole waiting for her if some human had enough heart to bury her. Of course this big ass dog probably wouldn’t leave much of her if eating was his objective. No one would even look for her…she’d been on her own for what seemed liked forever. Letting out a whimper as her paws came off the ground, they started on their journey.

“You OK Emily?” he managed to talk with his mouth full.

“Oh I'm just dandy…best ride of my life.”

“Don’t show your fear. Dogs can smell fear.”

Oh my God, was he really making jokes? She could’ve made one about smelling his butt too but was still in his mouth. That wouldn’t have been Emily’s best idea. She squinted against the light as they walked into the house. Wow, this was nice. It wasn’t as snazzy as that one house she lived in that one time but everything that glittered wasn’t gold. Emily wasn’t that old yet but she was old enough to know that.

“Are you alright?” the tabby came running toward them as the Rottweiler put her on the linoleum floor.

“Um, I'm OK.” Emily replied.

“You're soaked through and I'm sure you're hungry. I'm going to tell the humans about you. They’ll feed you and you can get warm. This is a good place.”

“Kinda like furlough from purgatory, huh?” Emily asked.

“They're good people…they’ll keep you I bet. But you have to do me a favor.”

“Wait, I don’t even know you. You want a favor from me?” she knew this was too good to be true. First, there was the Rottweiler mouth and now the tabby wanted favors. What the hell?

“Oh no, this favor is really for you. You gotta look as pitiful as you can. The male human is even softer than the female. There's no way he’ll put you back outside if you look hungry and pitiful. Can you act?”

“When I want to.”

“Well put on your best show, OK. I'm Penelope, by the way.” she held up her paw.

“I'm Emily…Emily Prentiss.” she held up her paw as well. “Who's the Rottweiler?”

“I can hear you, cat.” Morgan had shaken off on the rug and had taken up by the heater for the second part of his nap.

“That’s Derek; he's my friend. He's the most awesome dog ever I promise.”

“I guess it’s cool that he didn’t eat me.”

“He wouldn’t hurt anyone like that. Derek is as good as gold. Now I'm gonna get the male human. Remember, you gotta look pitiful…I'm talking Oscar worthy.”

“OK, I got it.”

Penelope smiled, turning and rushing out of the room. It wasn’t going to be hard for Emily to look hungry. Just the smell of home, even if it wasn’t her own, made her stomach grumble deeper. She didn’t even know that was possible. Clearly it was and she was going to work this pitiful thing to a tee. It might only get her one bowl of food and one dry, safe night, but it had been a long time since Emily Prentiss had had either.

***


End file.
